Truly gamified L&D, employee experience explained, and five other things you missed at HRSS18

Didn’t get a chance to attend the CIPD HR Software Show? Catch up on the best of CIPHR’s free learning sessions, which covered everything from ID fraud to talent management

More than a dozen experts from CIPHR Connect partner companies shared their knowledge with the assembled crowds on CIPHR’s stand at the 2018 CIPD HR and Recruitment Software Show in London.

If you missed the live presentations, catch up on part one of our highlights below, then read part two here.

“Every employee has an experience with you – whether you design it or not”

Gethin Nadin, director of global partnerships at Benefex, demystified the difference between employee engagement and the emerging concept of ‘employee experience’.

“Employee engagement is about giving short, sharp bursts of adrenaline to employees that lift them temporarily, but that they get used to very quickly,” he said. “Employee experience is about creating an experience from the moment someone applies for a job with you, right the way through to retirement. It’s about making sure every experience they have with you is a positive one, because every employee has an experience with you – whether you’ve designed it or not.”

“Gamification isn’t about building games”

Too many organisations are making the mistake of interpreting ‘gamification’ as meaning they need to build a game, said Totem founder Marcus Thornley.

“Gamification isn’t about building a game – it’s about taking game mechanics and putting them into the world of work,” he said. “Gamified elements such as XP, badges and leaderboards are about a much use as a lipstick on a pig if the base product isn’t good enough. It’s been assumed you can throw some badges on something that used to be really dull and, all of a sudden, it’s really fun. It doesn’t work like that: you have to design the initiative using a games mindset.”

“HR doesn’t know what questions it is trying to answers through analytics”

Managing director of Head Light, Ian Emery-Lee, explored six fundamental talent-management questions every organisation should be asking itself, and how to quantify and calculate findings for these questions.

“There are criteria you can observe to understand if performance management processes are working, and where you might need to intervene,” he said. “Key questions you need to be asking include: are people being managed in a meaningful way? What are the strengths and weaknesses of our leaders? Where are the greatest skills gaps?”

“Traditional elearning doesn’t work”

The key to more effective online learning is storytelling, said Gilchrist, citing research which showed that oxytocin – a hormone that promotes the formation of stronger emotional ties between humans – is linked to storytelling techniques. It’s an ancient form of tuition, he added: “We’ve been using stories for thousands of years to help the next generation learn.”

“Right-to-work checks need to be done for all staff – including British citizens”

Employers who don’t carry out right-to-work checks on British citizens could be leaving themselves open to the risk of claims for discrimination, said Gavin Burton from TrustID.

Burton also shared analysis of fraudulent documents captured by TrustID’s software in 2017, which found that the most commonly counterfeited documents were passports (which accounted for more than 45% of all fraudulent documents the company identified), followed by EU member state ID cards, and visas. While French, Nigerian and Portuguese documents accounted for a significant proportion of false passports and ID cards TrustID found, British-issued documents made up a third of all false documents they found last year, said Burton.

“Staff won’t engage with L&D if they don’t know its purpose”

It can be hard for organisations to get employees to engage with L&D initiatives if they “don’t know that it’s part of the route they should be following, or if it’s not the right intervention for them,” said Alex Innes, account manager at Abintegro. Career coaches can help, she added, but of course these are too expensive to offer to all staff in an organisation.

But employers can help staff better engage with L&D by helping them understand their values, motivations and behaviours, said Innes: “Self-awareness is the most crucial development breakthrough for accelerating personal leadership growth and authenticity.”

“Less is more when it comes to data security”

One simple way to improve the security and accuracy of your HR and payroll data is to integrate systems so there is a single source of data entry and storage, said Steve Sweetlove, HR consulting partner at RSM. Choosing to integrate business systems and data brings a whole host of benefits, he added, including the ability to run better reporting, less manual processing, and an improved ability to automate tasks.

“We’re at the end of the window where employers are viewed as progressive if they have joined-up systems; they will be seen as being behind the curve if they don’t,” he said.